More relaxed times: Vermont Governor Philip Hoff, a Democrat, thought it was great fun to publicly "punish" Republican Legislator Kendalene Collins on the front steps of the Capitol with a "good paddling" for failing to go along with his big plans for creating a statewide school system. (AP wire photo, 1965)
www.vtdigger.com
Holy crap! Riverside Middle School at 26.52 percent proficiency? Am I reading that right? If that's the case, I owe some people on this blog an apology; the kids here really ARE to stupid for the modern workforce! That does, however, explain a few things; stupid kids usually become stupid adults!
ReplyDeleteAs an technology sector employer that critically interviews young people for academic and trade skills, I can assure you, there is no shortage of stupid in Springfield. Thank a teacher.
Delete"the kids here really ARE to stupid" ... Um, that would be TOO, not TO. People who live in glass houses....
DeleteWow, I haven't been gigged for a typo since college! Brings back some memories, though, like getting A's on every term paper, and being Vice President of my Honor Society chapter!
DeleteApparently you didn't scroll down to Springfield High School's 15.73% proficiency statistic. So, yeah, it's bad at middle school, and all downhill from there.
DeleteThe kids don't know any difference. It is their parents that set the bar.
ReplyDeleteYeah and that bar is how to throw a basketball. That's all they learn in school now, are sports, it's all games and no education.
DeleteThat's right, it's obvious with so many state championships in Basketball that Springfield has won over the years,, it's all they learn,,, you have to be kidding me... do you even live in Springfield??
DeleteThis saddens me to hear. I wonder what the special needs population is, what the trauma exposure is, what the DCF involvement percentage is. I am appalled by the disrespectful labeling of Springfield students by some people. If you don't like it, do something about it. Stop being verbally abusive towards these students.
ReplyDeleteSaddest of all is that this is a dumbed down curriculum. The brightest kids live because of Vermont’s crummy business environment. The kids who stay are the low skilled who do seasonal work if they don’t become drug addicted. Not all. Many though.
ReplyDeleteBrightest kids leave. Stupid autocorrect.
DeletePart of it is the "NEW" math they teach. What the heck was wrong with the old math?
DeleteWell, I was unable to find Elm Hill's ranking, but I will say it was discouraging to find our other schools ranking so low.
ReplyDeleteThat said, why don't we take charge of this and turn Springfield into a world-class school district? It's fairly simple: 1. We gather together to find out who we are and what we each have to offer. 2. We develop a process to do the needed work, which is: A) We find out how the top-ranked school systems do it. B) We modify their practices to fit our local needs. C) We lay it all out in a well-developed plan. D) We get the money which has been waiting for people like us to show up and ask for it.
Impossible? No. Mark Zuckerberg by himself wasted $100 million on the Newark, New Jersey school system because he didn't have us develop a plan for them.
Any takers?
[Sound of crickets, except for Anonymous/]
Chuck, I must have awakened this morning in a parallel universe. This has to be the most rational, objective you have ever posted! However, I fear such goal is beyond the scope of our unionized school system. Springfield is ingrained with hideously lazy, incompetent educators. Test results prove it. Irregardless of how poorly they teach, as long as they don't rock the boat they have a job with incompatible benefits for life. Want an example? Try to find one, just one, school board member, guidance counselor, curriculum director, or other educator that has meet with regional, high tech employers to learn first hand what academic and vocational skills are necessary to compete in the 21st century. Beyond that, check out the school parking lots on any snow day while the rest of us schmucks have managed to schlep our way to work. Odds are these over worked educators are sleeping in or enjoying a ski day at Okemo. Bottom line Chuck, as ambitious and noble as pursuing a mission of excellence by bench marking, Springfield school system lacks caliber of faculty to make it happen and there is NOTHING that can be done to change that.
DeleteMachinist, it sounds as though in your history in the shops you never once met a worker who liked his/her job, discovered better and more personally satisfying ways to do it and spent unpaid extra hours making it more rewarding. There are a LOT of school staff who are like that, and they are the ones we can count on to make Springfield's a world class school system. The ones who aren't like that will appreciate the efforts of those who make teaching more rewarding for them than they've found it to be.
DeleteMachinist, please don't cloud Chuck's perception of reality with actual reality. He really has no comprehension of anything outside of the public sector, and fails to understand the mechanism that finances this liberal utopia that he braces so tightly.
DeleteUnfortunately, my experience (both my kids are just a couple years out of the Springfield Schools) is that the teachers don't want to hear from parents and don't value what parents bring to the table even if they are themselves highly successful professionals. I'm an engineer. My daughter struggled with math. I called to meet with the teachers to see what we all could do to support her through one of her least favorite subjects. I was told in no uncertain terms that it was their job to help her, not mine. Um, excuse me?????
ReplyDeleteAttitude of the school district needs to change before improvement will occur.
Wow. That is terrible. The staff that told you that should be dismissed immediately. They are clearly failing to do their job, and further obstructing you from doing it for them is completely unacceptable. You should name them publicly. Maybe public shaming will work, nothing else seems to.
DeleteSome turn out very good at making babies and/or knowing how many grams are in an ounce.
ReplyDeleteOne big problem with Springfield's schools lie with the state's system; eliminate local school boards. Vermont spends more on administrative costs THAN EVERY OTHER STATE. Replace them with a system where all high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools each have one board, statewide, these boards made up of the principals of each school. One board for high schools, one for middle, etc. Have one board of arbiters for the state, to work out disagreements or deadlocked boards. Each school is thereby equally represented, with a means of conflict resolution, at greatly reduced cost. Vermont has one of the lowest teacher/student ratios in the country, so I find it surprising that so little is being accomplished. Teachers here are hardly overworked, compared to other places. ( I say this as a former teacher in a school system where the average class size was 30, and students performed MUCH BETTER.) Parents must also realize, as mine did, that THEY are the primary source of education, and not simply dump their kids off at school expecting little Einsteins at 3:00 pm. In short, I submit that EVERYONE shares the responsibility, AND THE BLAME for the current state of our educational system. STOP THE POLITICAL FINGER-POINTING, THESE KIDS ARE OUR FUTURE; WE WILL ALL PAY FOR THIS ONE DAY.
ReplyDeleteFacebook king Zuckerman thought to remake the Newark NJ school system by giving it $100,000,000 to do so-- and Newark blew the entire amount. Moral of the story: Now we know that top-down doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteSo, we need to start from the bottom up.
First, let's find the dreamers who believe it's possible.
Next, find out how the premier schools operate (and why their per student cost is cheaper than ours).
Then, find out from teachers and staff how to adapt those practices for Springfield schools.
Then take it to the school board to get them on board (if they aren't already).
And then get hold of the person who wants to show Zuckerberg how to do it right.
Chuck, I just GAVE YOU two reasons why Vermont spends more per student: a top-heavy administrative bureaucracy combined with miniature class sizes! Neither one of these things are producing smarter kids, yet it appears that you, and everyone else, are mired in whatever tribal ideology you subscribe to! Or is it just small-town arrogance? Dreamers? ZUCKERBERG? I came from one of those "premier" school systems that you speak of. What good does it do to ask one of us if you won't listen?
Delete5:22, if everybody comes to understand that "a top-heavy bureaucracy combined with miniature class sizes" is not the hallmark of a world-class school, THEN proper change can happen. If we pay $100 million to have outside consultants come in and say the same thing, EVERYBODY will resist, for two reasons: 1) It's an opinion from people who might not know diddly and 2) nobody has reason to believe them and therefore has no reason to co-operate to change things.
DeleteNow, your education in a premier school system could be put to use in helping Springfield create a world-class system. Here's how: 1. Tell us what makes a school district world-class. 2. Tell us how a system is adjudged to be world-class. 3. Tell us why such a system, even though it pays its teachers more, still has lower costs per student. 4. Tell us the principles and processes such a system has developed and created to make it so. 5. Use your skills to engage other Springfielders in this endeavor.
I look forward to hearing from you; you know how to contact me.
Chuck, you either have a problem reading, or some type of thought-process deficiency, or both. I'll type slower, so you can understand. Spending less money on administration frees up money to pay teachers, or create better programs. Larger class sizes also lowers the cost per student, since all other expenses stay equal, or decrease with fewer teachers per school. Student aids could be hired to help teachers pick up the extra work of larger class sizes (test grading, etc.) What makes a school system world-class? 1. Focus on academics instead of social engineering; teach kids HOW to think instead of WHAT to think. Challenge their minds with problem solving exercises, instead of spending all day promoting "diversity." 2. Hold students accountable; those who do not achieve proficiency do not advance until they do. Provide extra tutoring for those who ARE behind, to catch them up. Jaime Escalante once said that students will rise to the level of expectation. He was right. Teach above grade level, not at or below it. 3. Hold parents accountable, they are partners in their children's education; the whole idea of education as a "right" is flawed. Education cannot be "poured" into children's heads like water into a bottle; it must be earned, and that takes the work of BOTH kids and parents. And yes, as much as it pains me to say so, (as I have the utmost respect for teachers) consistently low test scores usually indicate a teacher that is substandard; replace them. As far as engaging other Springfielders, THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING NOW. There ARE schools out there with good programs, and good teachers, and YES we should learn from them; usually all you have to do is find them AND JUST ASK THEM! No need for bureaucratic "processes" or expensive comsultants. And Chuck, I know you're just trying to win an argument so people will think you're smart, but this is too important for ego trips!
DeleteWhat you are proposing might be the right answers, 3:36, but they will be fought tooth and nail until they are inculcated by a significant proportion of the population. They cannot be imposed from above and expect to produce results. If they are, they will be put into practice by people who might not or will not want to understand them, and the practices will be no more than Potemkin dressing-- in place for all to see and admire, but hollow.
DeleteThe emphasis on tests to judge how well students are doing is a fine example of that right now. There are teachers who are in jail for producing class after class of students with exceptionally high test scores-- because they gamed the system. The only people who truly benefit from all our testing are the CEO's of and investors in the testing companies.
I haven't run across your name in my exploration into the subject, but I look forward to meeting you in what might be a mutual endeavor.
Well there you go, money can't buy you smarts. What more do you need than a black board, chalk,pencil, paper and books (laptops ). Oh yes,good teachers. And go back to the "old time" method of the basics. Reeding,righting and arithmetec.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, gates jobs and suckerbuge will be remembered as the reason the planet earth died.
ReplyDeleteStart at the superintendent level. Fire him, revamp the school board and start fresh.
ReplyDeleteyou hit the nail right on the head,you forgot to mention the teachers that aren't doing their job,they need to go too.
DeleteWell, if our schools would stop pushing sports before education, maybe we wouldn't have students only one year from graduation with only 15.73% of the class proficient in math. We waste a ton of money that SHOULD be going towards learning English and math and thus improving these test scores in sports programs we don't need. Clearly, we need to refocus our school programs on education.
ReplyDeleteI agree to an extent. One thing to ponder is that most athletes are held to a higher standard and they NEED to maintain a higher GPA.
DeleteWhen my son was active in sports he was always on honor roll.
Phaewryn,,, sports can not go away, if you got rid of sports, you just eliminated the aspect of school that holds the students accountable for keeping good grades... Not sure you really understand how Springfield works. No school,, EVER, that is the same size and demographic as Springfield has improved or benefited by eliminating sports BAD IDEA!
DeleteSports in New England schools are valued, but not over-valued. In the former Confederate states, they are very often over-valued, as when a principal retires and the school board automatically hires the football coach to be the next principal. A fairly common practice.
DeleteA school can have the best teachers and the smartest students in the state, but there are no ways that the general public can tell. Very few people are attuned to the idea of understanding education. But everybody can tell which side wins in a sport, so in general the public identifies the quality of a school as determined by its sports programs. We can at least thank our lucky stars that we might have a more balanced perspective in our state.
It sounds right to change things at the system level first; that will affect a lot of what happens in the classroom. Anon 10:05 has some interesting ideas of saving money, but then where do you spend the money saved? Again, compare with more successful schools. As to student-to-teacher ratio, it could be much higher in the classroom if the right ratio, one-to-one, was being conscientiously applied at home.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but the average female elementary student spends about two minutes a day talking to either of her parents and the average male, about 26 seconds. Both of them talk more to their teachers in a week than to their parents. Don't count on American family values to carry the day scholastically!
ReplyDeleteHow do we vote out Zach McLaughlin? What about the school board? I'd love some fresh faces and ideas for our children in the community. Personally, I'm not able to be on the board because of my career or I'd love to throw around some ideas.
ReplyDeleteFor a student to play sports it is based on PRIDE which is behavior. A student could be taking basic coursework, getting below average grades and still play. This is complete BS. Springfield should spend less time focusing on sports and more time on academics. Pretty sad when I have a child that scores well on these tests and does well in school, but teachers will not give more difficult work instead tell my child to help the other children that screw off. Meanwhile more advanced courses are not offered.
ReplyDelete